KPK Deputy Chairman Alexander Marwata Once Received WhatsApp From Contractor, Lost Tender Because Not Paying Fee

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Alexander Marwata, admitted that he had received a WhatsApp message from a contractor in the area who told him that he lost during the project auction process because he did not take into account the provision of fees for policymakers and local officials.

This story was conveyed by Alexander when he opened the discussion on the National Strategy for PKing to Prevent Corruption in the Procurement of Construction Services which was held online on Wednesday, October 6.

"There is a little story that some time ago I got a WA from one of the auction participants in the area, he bid the lowest price but didn't win", said Alex as shown on the Stranas PK Official YouTube.

The contractor, he continued, was deemed to have submitted an unreasonable bid price by the committee or ULP. "Because he bid 80 percent below the HPS (Self Estimated Price). There were four bidders with prices below HPS and all four did not qualify because they were considered unreasonable", said Alex.

"The winner is the one in fifth place, which costs IDR 1.5 billion more than the lowest price offered", he added.

Receiving the report, Alex admitted that he had asked about the unfairness of the price. According to him, the contractor has actually calculated carefully, including the profits for his company.

However, the private sector does not take into account the provision of fees for policymakers. "I once asked whether the lowest price was profitable? 'Yes, sir. We have calculated that with a profit of 15 percent, but indeed our calculation does not calculate the provision of fees to officials and other parties. Purely the company's profit is 15 percent", said Alex.

This finding is then considered to be a serious problem. Because, in the future, contractors will easily add a 5-15 percent fee for policymakers every time they submit project bids and this often happens in corruption cases handled by the KPK.

"This is a fact often revealed by the KPK when taking action against bribery cases related to the procurement of construction goods and services", he said.

"Of course this incident is very worrying, why? Because President Jokowi has announced the acceleration of development in three main focuses, namely infrastructure, one of which is infrastructure", he concluded.